"What the actual hell just happened here?!" the cursed ghoul stepped further into the bar, seeing the shards of glass scattered around the place, though his eyes were mostly focused on the massive golem standing in the middle of the room, holding down a member of the 'Sons of Ursa'. He mouthed something, but shook the thought out of his head.

  Ryan quickly approached the man, holding forward his left hand. Both as a greeting, and to gauge whether or not Tiar's new ability would be able to help with the curse that was affecting him. The man, this ghoul, was clearly weakened considerably. His eyes were sunken, even more so than for regular ghouls, and he was limping. From the clothes he was wearing, as if they were just loosely draped over him, it was clear he was just a husk of his former self.

  But he shook his head, just waving Ryan away. "Fuck off, kid. Will someone *finally* tell me who's responsible for this? Marco! What happened?"

  Marco nervously glanced at Ryan, who the ghoul had just pushed away. "Uhm... he happened..."

  The man turned around, not sure he heard right. Of course, Ryan looked relatively unassuming for the most part. He looked like a regular guy that worked out sometimes. He didn't have the bulk that a lot of strength-based awakened often had, and he didn't have that cocky, intellectual air that magical awakened could often have. Even that vampire that was laying on the ground, a caster with some sort of blood-based magic, had an air that was clearly unbecoming of a grimy bar like this.

  "The fuck's that supposed to mean?" the ghoul looked Ryan up and down, slowly limping toward him. "You're telling me this guy did that to Torben? A fully transformed Torben?"

  Nervously, Marco nodded his head. He answered like he was unsure about what just happened himself. "Yes?"

  Ryan smiled, once again holding his hand forward. "Sorry for the mess. I already explained that I'll pay for any damages. Oh, and we can clean up right away, too." He looked up at the porcelain witch floating above him. "Morgana, do you think you could..?"

  There wasn't even a need for Ryan to finish the sentence. Morgana just waved her hand, and an array of magic-circles appeared in the air around her. Ryan's eyes took on a golden shine as Morgana used her abilities to pick up all the shards of glass that had been scattered by the vampire's spell earlier.

  They were neatly deposited in the rubbish bin that the bartender had already brought out to clean up himself. "You might still need to sweep a bit, her telekinesis isn't that precise."

  Morgana turned her head toward Ryan, 'staring' at him for a few moments through her blindfolds. He ignored her.

  "My name is Ryan Aglecard, I'm here to see if I could potentially help out with that curse that's bothering you." Once again, Ryan held forward his hand to try and make some physical contact with the ghoul, who instantly stared at Marco.

  "You brought a fucking dreadseeker? Now I guess I know that caused this mess." The ghoul nervously groaned, unable to keep his eyes off Torben. "You think you can let 'im go? Don't worry, he's not going to attack you again."

  "Huh?! Joe, this guy's one of the-"

  "I don't give a shit! He could be Runar Aglecard himself, and I wouldn't let you!"

  Ryan chuckled at that. They wouldn't have a chance against Runar anyway. "That's right, so there's no reason to attack his nephew again, is there?" he smiled at Torben. Frankly, Ryan was in a good mood. Though the fight ended a bit premature before things could get really fun, it had just been a while since he was able to let loose in a real fight against another person like that. Even in the dungeon back then, most of the fighting was done by the spirits, so Ryan just took on the role of a supporter or gap-filler. And sparring at the gym was mostly a way to try out new techniques and refine yourself. It wasn't real and dirty the way that this fight was just now. Honestly, it was part of why Ryan was excited to get licensed as a 'Hero', so that he might be able to take on some villains in a proper fight.

  "Wait, what?" the ghoul, Joe, turned to Ryan confused. "Did you just say you're... Runar Aglecard's nephew?"

  "Mhm."

  "Like... blood-nephew..?"

  Ryan raised a brow and nodded. That was a slightly weird question. Runar wasn't married, so of course it was by blood.

  Joe's eyes widened in surprise, as a broad smile appeared on his face. "Holy shit, you're Hayden's kid, aren't you?"

  That name hit Ryan in the face like a brick. He didn't expect anyone here to know him. "You... knew my dad?"

  "Knew him? He gave me the money to open this bar!" Joe laughed loudly, and Ryan was even more confused. But that confusion didn't have the chance to take hold, since Joe finally took him up on that handshake, and a notification popped up in front of him.

  ***

  [the ability -Dominion over Corruption- is currently unable to fully control curses in other categories]

  ***

  There were two important words in there that jumped out at Ryan immediately. 'Currently', and 'fully'.

  That meant that the more the ability grew, the more Tiar would be able to cure other curses. But this clearly wasn't like a skill, it was more like a physical ability that Tiar now possessed. Like some kind of new trait. It wouldn't grow like a skill, though it was reasonable to think that it would continue to grow stronger the more it was used and the more they figured out what this ability actually was.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  At the same time, if this ability came from the dungeon core's Seed of Blessing, then it was possible that the ability could also just continue being strengthened the more the Tree of Blessing grew. Either way, it was clear that there was more to this ability than they could access right this second.

  But there was still a little something they could do. Even if it wasn't much. But not here, not in front of everyone.

  "Do you think we could go somewhere more private to talk?" Ryan asked. He really wanted to know more about Joe's relationship with Hayden, too. How come he had a clear dislike of 'Dreadseekers', but the moment Ryan's dad came up, he had that happy grin on his face. And why did Hayden sponsor a bar in the Rapids?

  "Of course! Let's go to the office!" Joe said, smiling from ear to ear before turning toward Torben. "And you! If you guys make a mess again, I'll tell Ursa, alright?"

  Torben and the others were just stuck there, confused why Joe was taking this kid's side. But clearly, Joe had some pull with them, so they just meekly turned and left the bar. Ryan called the spirits back into their domains, and then turned to follow the ghoul.

  Marco and Joe's nephew stayed out front, so that Ryan and Joe could talk privately. The moment the door shut, the ghoul turned to Ryan.

  "So, uh... sorry about all that out there. Those guys can get a bit intense when Dreadse- the Aglecards are involved," Joe explained awkwardly. "I hope they didn't hurt you?"

  "Hm, not really. Torben got a good punch in, but beside that, I'm fine."

  "... You're standing after one of Torben's punches?"

  Ryan smiled lightly and sat down on the chair in front of the desk. "Let's not worry about that. For now, there's two things I want to talk to you about. One, your curse. And two, my dad."

  Joe's smile slowly disappeared into a more complicated grimace, "Don't bother with the first one, kid. I know you guys have developed some kind of medicine against curses, but this kind's resistant to that. It's a different tier of curse."

  "Considering that, you're holding out pretty well."

  "Hah, I guess so," Joe picked up a cigarette and lit it without hesitation. "It's not like it's a particularly aggressive curse. Just stops me from doin' what I wanna."

  Ryan frowned lightly. "What kind of curse is it?"

  Joe sighed. He clicked his finger, and a small spark was removed from the tip of the cigarette. Joe let it dance around his fingertips, as his eyes let off a slight orange glow. But after a few moments, something seemed to practically envelop the light coming from his eyes. Like a beast had woken up and was now trying to swallow the mana. Joe winced and started to cough, leaning forward while holding a hand in front of his mouth.

  "Whenever I use any sort of skill, it fucks me over like this. Gets worse every time I level up, so I retired a long time ago."

  "... And that's when my dad gave you the money for this bar?"

  Joe smiled, forcing down a few more coughs. "Mhm. Retirement gift. I mean, after all I did for him, this was the bare minimum." He joked.

  A thought popped into Ryan's head. The age fit, and it would explain his complicated relationship with the Aglecards.

  "Were you my dad's aide?" Ryan asked, and Joe's eyes widened.

  "You didn't come here knowing that?"

  Ryan shook his head. "No, it was a complete coincidence. Do you know Jade Garcia? I came here to cure her grandmother, and I was told there were other people with curses here, so Marco brought me to the bar."

  Without hesitation, Joe jumped up off his seat. "They found a cure for corruption?!"

  "... Yes. It's complicated, so I'll explain it later."

  "Right, sorry... guess there's a lot you want to talk about..." Joe cleared his throat and slowly sat back down. "But those spirits earlier... you're not just a regular summoner, right? You're the new Spirit Keeper?"

  Ryan nodded instantly. "Yes! So you know them? I'm surprised you didn't recognise them, but-"

  "Hold your horses, kid," Joe replied. "Your dad was the Keeper of dozens of spirits, and most of them weren't around him all the time. They were off doing their own thing, or stuck to their domain or whatever it's called. But that big one earlier, that was Gaia, right?"

  "Yes, that's her." Ryan held out his hand, calling Gaia out of her domain. Joe raised his brow and looked down at the Garden Golem.

  "Huh, she looks so different... Oh, right, she had that skill, the uh... one where she links to a garden or something?"

  Ryan nodded, and Joe contemplated for a moment. "There was the other one that was always stuck to Hayden's ass... that knight one, Maximilian?"

  "Maximus?"

  "That's the one!"

  With a smile, Ryan called the knight out of his domain. "I guess you didn't see him earlier. Must have been hidden behind Gaia."

  Joe smiled the moment he saw the small knight standing on his desk. "Well, I'll be... Do you guys remember me?" he asked, but the spirits just stood there and slowly looked at Ryan.

  "Sorry... they don't. After what my dad did, their cores were shattered, and all of their memories are fragmented and lost. None of them seem to remember anything from before then."

  Confused, Joe frowned. "What do you mean? What'd your dad do?"

  "You know... he forcibly removed his class."

  "... What?" Joe's face went pale. Ryan didn't even know that could happen to ghouls, but clearly so. "Why would he..?"

  "Wait, do you know something about that? Can you tell me about what exactly he did?"

  Joe held his hand in front of his mouth and shook his head. "I don't know any details, either. But there was a thing. Some kind of cult thing or whatever. We heard rumours about them trying to block the system out. I got cursed while investigating them." He grimaced. "The cult's final goal wasn't just to stop people from using their skills, but to undo awakening in the first place..."

  "But why would my dad work with a cult like that?"

  "... There were some things about the Spirit Keeper class that Hayden found suspicious. He investigated it for a long time, and found out that some of the skills weren't quite... right. Like someone had messed with them."

  Ryan raised a brow. That sounded like the 'Spirit Seal Recovery' skill. Originally, Runar knew it as a skill that allowed spirits to be enlarged and get a small percentage boost in power. But in Ryan's case, not just the name but the degree of power boost changed. Even at the first level, it allowed the spirits' power to be doubled instantly.

  "But why would he remove his class because of that?"

  Joe sighed. "No clue. Maybe he wanted to just remove the things that were messed with, and then screwed up. I just heard that he was blacklisted and moved away, and then that he died a couple years after." he grimaced angrily. "I just always figured that he got killed by the Dreadseekers for something."

  "Huh? Why would the family do something like that?"

  With a loud laugh, Joe looked at Ryan. "Your family's fucking messy, kid. Trust me, I'm happy I'm not involved with them anymore. Since Hayden was blacklisted, they cut off all the privileges I had as a former aide."

  Was the family really that terrible? He knew that they did a lot of things wrong, but Joe even thought that they would have killed Hayden? Wasn't that a bit over the top?

  There were a lot of questions running through his mind. But there was just one that he figured he should ask about to start with.

  "... What was the name of the cult?"

  "Hm? Oh, yeah... never gonna forget those fuckers." Joe took a puff of his cigarette. "They're called the 'Church of the Dead God'."